Excavators or "power shovels" have been well known and widely used in various industries. Typically, such excavators include a boom extending from a center base member of the excavator to an upwardly and outwardly extending end at which an arm or implement is attached. Those skilled in the art often refer to such arm as a "dipper stick."
In the construction industry, a shovel or bucket is most commonly maintained at the end of the dipper stick for removing and depositing earth. Other industries such as the material handling industry employs shears, grapples, magnets, and other such devices at the end of the arm or dipper stick, or as an independent implement maintained at the end of the boom itself. Specifically, the demolition and scrap processing fields employ such devices in routine operation.
Regardless of the type of arm or implement employed at the end of the boom, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that an excavator employs hydraulic pistons and the like for raising and lowering the boom, moving the arm or implement with respect to the boom, and for actually operating the implement attached to the end of the boom or the end of the arm. The concept of the invention presented herein is readily adaptable to implementation with excavators of the types generally described.
To improve the utility and versatility of excavators, it is most desirable that various implements and/or arms may be quickly and reliably coupled to the boom. In other words, a single excavator can be employed at one point in time with shears, at a subsequent point in time with a grapple, at another point with a magnet, and at a still different point with a bucket. However, the implements and arms used in association with excavators are of extreme size, often being 15-20 feet in length, and weighing hundreds of pounds. Those skilled in the art readily recognize that such arms and implements are difficult to maneuver and position.
Previously, the changing of implements or arms at the end of the boom of an excavator has been time consuming, difficult, labor intensive, and dangerous. Such operation necessarily requires removal and replacement of multiple pins to achieve the desired engagement. The removal and placement of such pins could, however, only be undertaken after manually and hydraulically manipulating the heavy and cumbersome boom and arm.
There is a need in the art for a coupler to accommodate quick release and attachment between the boom and arm or implement to be utilized with an excavator.